Lightyear is a 2022 Disney Pixar title based off of the popular Toy Story character. It wasn’t received particularly well by either critics or audiences. Is it that bad? Well, I’m going to have a look and judge it for myself.
Story:
We open with a short blurb telling us that this is, in fact, the film that the Buzz Lightyear toy was based off of in the Toy Story universe. You know, just in case the name and the very iconic Buzz Lightyear spacesuit weren’t enough to clue you into that little fact. We move on to see Buzz and his fellow space rangers, Alisha Hawthorne & Featheringhamstan, exploring an unknown planet when they’re forced to flee due to giant, hostile insects and slithering vines. Buzz crashes the ship by mistake and the trio is forced to awaken the rest of the people on board, who are in stasis, and build a whole civilisation on this hostile world to try and repair their ship. Buzz is testing the new hyperspace crystal when he returns to find that four years passed on the colony while he was gone. After that the film covers a bunch of more attempts while time passes until the world around Buzz drastically changes.
There’s one massive issue with the film. While it has some good concepts in its premise, the execution is very lackadaisical. It’s like watching a very mediocre episode of Star Trek where the writers didn’t think things through very well or they just tried to incorporate too many side plots and didn’t have enough time to wrap them all up in a satisfactory way. Except this film is twice the length of a standard Trek episode. The issue is that there are so many elements to it hat could be entire films by themselves. The whole exploration of a hostile world could be its own film. Trying to build a colony on a hostile planet could be its own film. Trying to break the hyperspace barrier while losing touch with the world around you because time is moving far faster for it could be its own film. The whole invasion of Zurg could be its own film but it’s all crammed together which means nothing gets as much attention or developed as well as it should. We also have the whole reveal with Emperor Zurg which is actual rubbish. It’s very much a case of they had a bad idea but decided to use it anyway and then they implemented it poorly.
The best part of the film, no contest, is the whole relationship betwixt Buzz and his closest friend, Alisha. The whole montage sequence where we see them catch up after Buzz’s failed flights until she succumbs to old age is genuinely good and it’s pretty sad to see Buzz watching the final message she left for him. And watching him connect with her grown granddaughter after his final flight and gain some insight into what her life was like is a pretty sweet moment.
Characters:
Most of the characters in this film are just bland. The only four who are really worth mentioning are Buzz, Alisha, Izzy and Sox. Buzz is an okay character. His obsession with trying to make up for his piloting mistake makes sense and he has a nice little arc where he comes to terms with what’s happened. Alisha and Izzy have the best scenes in the film and the pair of them are by far the best characters. Sox is Buzz’s robot cat and he makes for a solid animal sidekick character.
Art:
The artwork and animation are both solid. As much as the film isn’t very impressive in most regards, it is a good looking film and I do appreciate that Sox’s design makes him look artificial with mechanical looking movements and all.
Sound:
The acting is fine. I know a lot of people were upset that Buzz was voiced by Chris Evans instead of Tim Allen but if we’re being honest, Evans isn’t an inherently worse voice for the character. The big thing that drags his performance down is that Lightyear doesn’t have as interesting or endearing of characterisation as Toy Story. Which is the exact reason that most of the performances in this are just decent. Not good, not bad. Uzo Aduba and Keke Palmer have the strongest performances because they voice the most compelling characters.
Ho-yay:
There’s a little bit. Alisha marries a woman and seems to live a happy life with her. Though we barely see her wife.
Areas of Improvement:
- The film really needed a more focused narrative. I think they could have had an existing colony trying to break this speed barrier with Buzz as the test pilot, had the whole story about him coming back with years having passed and eventually had him return to an invasion that he had to help fend off and executed a much stronger, more cohesive story without the rubbish twist about Zurg and with more time to develop the story and characters.
- The whole twist with Zurg’s identity just shouldn’t exist.
- They really needed to develop their side characters better. Featheringhamstan basically fucks off after the opening sequence having contributed nothing. Then we have the two who accompany Buzz, Izzy and Sox against Zurg. He’s a coward and she’s a kind of shite version of the old lady from Atlantis.
Final Thoughts:
Honestly, this wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be given the general response. It’s still not a good film. While it has some aspects that do kind of work, it’s very underwhelming and mediocre overall. My final rating is going to be a 5/10.
Anime Reviews 